


Harboring an impostor

by Paf_Writes_Stuff



Series: Distrust [2]
Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Blue has self worth issues, Blue realizes something :), Cuddling, Cyan is the only reasonable person here, Cyan takes his patients mental health seriously, Dancing, F/M, Green is a bit of a jerk, Green is a little sus ngl, Green is dead crabrave, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Misunderstandings, Orange is friend shaped, Purple's a sweetheart, Red Yellow and Cyan are NOT okay with the circumstances, White realizes something :), Yellow i know you're traumatized but you need to chill, Yellow is trying, also yay Yellow's finally chill now, are yall ready?, haha babysitter Blue go brrr, im a sucker for found family, its okay Blue you tell them in your own time, just an itty bit of filler before the next arc, new friends? new friends!, oh hey look its that one guy from the prequel, ow i hurt myself, poor Purple, prepare yourself, probably inaccurate medical procedures, the new Black will be called Captain for sake of distinction, they will defend their impostor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:02:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27396925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paf_Writes_Stuff/pseuds/Paf_Writes_Stuff
Summary: The crew of The Skeld finally lands on Polus but Blue is worried about how whoever's there will feel about an impostor being welcomed to the team with open arms.After a distress call comes in, the Polus team brings back three new additions, but are they being truthful about who they are?
Relationships: Blue/White (Among Us), Crewmate/Impostor (Among Us)
Series: Distrust [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2001433
Comments: 66
Kudos: 178





	1. Landing

"Polus, this is Pink from The Skeld, are we clear for landing?"

"We hear you loud and clear Pink. This is Red 1 confirming your landing."

"Thank you kindly, Red 1. We'll be down shortly. Oh, and there'll be no need for the extra numbers quite yet, we've had a minor change in crew."

"Copy that, Pink. We'll call a meeting to discuss once you're all settled in."

As Pink shut down the communication line between them and the surface, the remaining crew eagerly awaited the final verdict. Pink turned and stood with her hands on her hips. 

"Alrighty everyone, pack your remaining things and head down to the dropship!"

They cheered. Finally, after weeks of routine maintenance and blank monotony, they would finally touch down on Polus. The idea of walking around outside on a planet instead of roaming empty hallways felt bizarre. It was exciting. White went down to her quarters and grabbed her drawstring bag. She didn't bring much with her, only a few small personal items, but that was all she really needed. Straightening her flower so it would stay on her helmet, she stepped out into the hall and down through the twisting maze that was the lower deck of The Skeld. 

Blue was already there. He stood idly next to the opening, twisting his hands as he savored his last few moments before he had to be in the presence of people who didn't know about, and probably weren't okay with, him being inhuman. He was nervous, White could tell. She approached him and clapped a hand on his back. 

"Hey there, it's going to be alright. We've just got to omit certain truths for a while."

"They won't be as accepting as you guys have been. What if they find out and you guys can't win the vote?"

"No. Don't think like that. I'm not going to let that happen. There's six of us and I highly doubt that they won't listen to reason."

"Yeah. You're right. I'll be fine."

The rest of the crew gathered around the docking bay. The dropship was a detachable pod on the bottom of the ship. The Skeld was much too big to land anywhere on the research site, so it would stay suspended in orbit while the crew took the dropship down to the surface. 

Pink began to corral everyone to the seats at the front. "Okay everyone, sit down and buckle up, entry is gonna fight us tooth n nail. Y'all got your boarding passes? Your ID cards?"

White sat between Blue and Orange. She took a deep breath as she tightened her seatbelt and the ship began to rumble. Lift off was not something she had never experienced, but it was certainly something that always left her feeling weightless. Orange gripped her hand as the typical turbulence rattled the dropship like it was a falling toy. Then, just as quickly as it began, the shaking stopped and the dropship let itself down for a smooth landing. There was a small scramble as everyone un-did their buckles and sorted themselves out. The back hatch opened, letting the cold Polus air wash over them. 

"Hello Skeld! Welcome to Polus!"

Three people approached the dropship as the crew milled around. The person who spoke was Yellow, she was short and wore an inflatable flamingo on her head. The two next to her were Red and Cyan. Red was wearing a flat brown cap and Cyan had a balloon tied to his head. 

"Sorry for the small welcome party," Yellow continued. "We had a bit of an… impostor issue… but it's been resolved!"

"Red here tells us you had a similar problem? Why don't we all head to the office, tell each other the stories, eh?"

"We still have to show them around, Cyan."

"Oh right, sorry. I got excited."

"How long has it just been the three of you here?" Brown asked. 

"Oh that's kinda hard to tell," Yellow started. "Nights take forever on Polus so time is a bit wonky. If I had to guess I'd say-"

"83 hours."

"Thanks Cyan."

"Hey, I've got to upload some data, can you two show these guys around?"

"Sure thing!"

Yellow and Cyan lead the tour around the outpost while Red went off to what was probably the office building. White and Blue fell to the back of the group. 

"Should we tell them?"

"I wouldn't risk it. Not yet."

"It took weeks for me to get comfortable with you guys after the impostor thing, they've only had, what, three days?"

"We should give it time. Get to know them enough to trust them."

~~~

After the tour, Yellow and Cyan led the group to the office building and into a conference room. Red was already there. 

"So! Now that you guys know where everything is, how about we share stories? We'll go first."

Red began. 

"I was in decontamination when we found Green. He was at the door to weapons. Black found him. She was caught venting after the meeting. I should have known it was a self report, Lime might still be here. They must have seen her vent because they were halfway in the hole when we found their body. 

Yellow found Purple in o2. The impostor must've been trying to frame me because I was just in the boiler room. It was a double kill. Orange found Pink at the o2 canisters. It took a while for the next body to be found, but Orange turned up dead in admin. Apparently, he had seen White vent and was on his way to the button before being silenced. That's when Brown came to his defense, and it was over. He had said they were together in electrical, but I knew for a fact that I had  _ just _ seen Brown in lab. We booted White, and Brown tried to kill Cyan here. Emphasis on  _ tried. _ "

"He knocked him over the head with a gas can! It was so cool!" Yellow interjected. 

"Ah it was mostly adrenaline," Cyan said humbly, shifting slightly in his seat. 

"Still."

"After that, the three of us got rid of Brown, and we've been waiting for you guys to get here since."

“You had  _ three _ impostors?” Orange shivered.

“Yeah, seems to be the biggest number they come in.”

"How about you?” Yellow perked up in her seat. “You seem to have had more success than us."

White took the lead. She told them about how she had found  _ their _ Cyan in navigation and the following meeting. Brown joined in describing how she had found Lime in electrical and Purple's resulting ejection. Pink relayed finding Green in admin and her own subsequent stabbing, which gained a soft gasp from Yellow. The conversation went back to White when it came to  _ their _ Yellow turning up dead and why  _ their _ Red wasn't present.

"I'm sorry, what?!" Cyan exclaimed when White announced that the impostor had died. "How- I- what?! How did an impostor just  _ die _ ?!"

White glanced at her crewmates, a subtle  _ 'not yet' _ .

"The other impostor decided that enough was enough and killed him."

"Imp on imp violence? I thought they always worked as a team."

"Not this time, apparently," Pink muttered. 

"Well, you did deal with the other impostor, right? You must have seen them?" Yellow asked. 

"About that…"

"They're still here?!"

"They haven't killed anyone since! It's been weeks!"

"Please tell us you at least know who it is."

"Why, so you can eject them or whatever you do here?"

"Why are you defending them?!"

"We didn't suspect Red at all, we would all be dead if it weren't for them," Black signed. 

"Well? Who is it? We're obviously outvoted."

"Sorry guys, we can't be taking that risk just yet, y'all'll have to find out from them."

"Well. Okay then. As long as they don't try anything…"

The conference room settled into silence. White clapped her hands and turned to the old crew. "Well! That went well!"


	2. Settling

The first day on Polus went as well as one would expect. Red had set up everyone’s vitals and assigned tasks. Once the new crew had left, Red turned to Yellow and Cyan. 

"What do you guys think?"

"I'm not sure how I feel about this… how do we know we can trust them?" Yellow asked warily. 

Cyan shrugged. "I mean, _they're_ fine. They were on that ship for several weeks with the thing."

"Yes but, Cyan, if they won't even tell us who it is-"

"-I don't know guys! It just seems unlikely for an impostor to have lasted that long on a ship that didn't trust them." He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "I know that what we went through was bad enough, but I don't think we should jump to any conclusions."

Yellow and Red looked at each other uncertainly. 

If the Skeld crew wouldn't tell them who the impostor was, they would have to figure it out themselves. Sure, they had said the impostor would have to reveal themselves when they were comfortable, but a little bit of snooping couldn't hurt. Red, who had the best luck with tech, attempted to remotely read the captain's logs on The Skeld and was surprised to find that everything after log three was blocked behind several passwords. It was chilling to see Pink's description of Green's body, but it gave them a timeline. If their Yellow was still alive in this log, but not in the present, then log four must be hiding something about his and the impostor Red's death. Including who killed him. They tried to dig deeper, but the only log they managed to access was log 21, and all it mentioned was Black having made pizza. 

In the meantime, Yellow was walking around the site supervising the new arrivals. She was paying attention to who seemed most suspicious and paired that up with the reported events from the meeting before. Black was quiet, this normally would have been cause for caution, but upon inspection, his file revealed that he was simply selectively mute. Pink was tall and loud. She was friendly in the way that she'd slap a hand on your back and push you down a hill as a joke. Yellow didn't find her to be impostor material. Orange was too excited at the prospect of being on a new planet to possibly be a reason for caution, except maybe around the lava pit in case they accidentally pushed someone. Brown was a mother and she was very caring. Yellow had walked into a wall in front of her and she had immediately checked if she was okay. White was very defensive about the impostor. This could be because  _ she's _ the impostor, or because she cares about the impostor on a more personal level than just being crewmates. Blue was always with White, even if their tasks were all the way across the site. They would walk from one building to another together. The two only split up once they had finished their tasks. 

Cyan on the other hand, took a more respectful approach. He simply started talking to whoever was in the room, bonding over whatever they had in common, asking about how they were liking the base, simple small talk. He treated it like he was simply making new friends, which he was. He made quick friends with Pink and Black, who hung out together after finishing their tasks. Pink congratulated him on fighting off an impostor and surviving. 

~~~

Blue and White had stuck together the entire day. The meeting earlier had them both on edge. It didn't help that Yellow was not-so-subtly following them after a while. Once they were finally alone, having split up momentarily to get rid of Yellow, they sat down in the storage shed together. 

Outside was cold, and the walls of storage didn't provide much relief. White knew that she'd get used to it in time, but in the moment, it was distracting. Cyan had mentioned it being the equivalent of winter this time of year, of all the seasons to land in, it had to be winter. Distant winds roared across the sky, echoing as it weaved through mountains. 

White scooted closer to Blue, he put his arm around her shoulder as they huddled. Sure, they could just go to the office building, or even the boiler room, but there was more privacy here. 

Blue was warm. She shouldn't have been able to feel his body heat this intensely through the suits they had been issued, but Blue was an exception due to the fact that his suit was his skin. She wondered how cold he felt without any insulation, but he seemed content as it was. White took her helmet off and laid her head on his shoulder, calmly rubbing his arm. Blue was making a low rumbling sound in his throat. 

"Are you purring?" She asked, looking up at him. 

"Yes, why, is it wrong?"

"Blue, that's adorable!"

He looked away quickly, but his purring became more intense. She laughed and hugged him, nestling her face in the crook of his neck. He wrapped his arms around her back. They stayed huddled like this for a long time before Yellow came to see why they never showed up at dinner. 

~~~

"Guys, you'll never believe what I just saw," Yellow announced to the crowd as she entered the office building. 

"Was it a lava monster?"

"Meteor shower?"

"A passing ship?"

"No, no, and no." Yellow sat down cross legged on the floor. "I just found Blue and White in storage, they were cuddling on the floor. Passed out. It was so cute!"

"Oh yeah, they do that all the time. It's incredible that neither of them have said anything."

"Wait, they  _ aren't _ together?"

"Not officially. It's obvious that they want to be, though."

"How long has it been like this?"

"Since like, day four of the trip. If one of 'em gets overwhelmed or frustrated or something, we send the other to calm 'em down."

Orange stifled a laugh as they mumbled something about an "emotional support crewmate".

Red made a mental note about the day four, log four correlation. They were beginning to think that either Blue or White was the impostor. Although, Pink having password locked the captain's logs made it hard not to suspect her as well. 

"Oh yeah, speaking of 'passed out', what's the sleeping situation?" Brown asked as her kid stretched and yawned. 

"Well, this site was never meant to be a long term situation, there isn't a residential building yet, so we've just been sleeping wherever in sleeping bags," Red provided. "They're all folded up in admin right now."

"Alright, thank you. Come on Penny, time for bed, let's go get you a sleeping bag."

As Brown went to admin with her kid to dig out bags for everyone, Black signed something to Orange before taking four sleeping bags. 

"We'll go get Blue and White, we shouldn't let them sleep in storage, it's cold." Orange stood and walked outside, Black followed without a word. 

~~~

Before everyone else had woken up the next day, Cyan took account of where everyone was sleeping. While he, Pink, Yellow, Red, and Brown had spread out their bags in the office, Black, Orange, White, and Blue had set up in o2. Cyan walked into the tree room to see a loose ring of sleeping bags, though only three were currently in use. He looked around the joint electrical-o2 building for the missing crewmate before stopping in the door of security. That's when Blue put his hand on Cyan's shoulder from behind. 

"Blue! Oh, jeez man, don't do that! Where did you even come from?"

"The vents."

"Huh?"

"It's me." He admitted Apprehensively. 

"Oh, I kinda figured it was either you or White."

"You're not going to throw me in lava or whatever it is you do here?"

"Nah, your crew trusts you and you seem like a chill guy. Besides, you have me all alone right now, and you haven't killed me." 

"Didn't your Brown almost kill you, though?"

"Blue, I may have only known you guys for less than a day, but I trust you not to kill us."

Blue sighed in relief, his shoulders relaxed and the antenna on his head drooped. 

"Can you do me a favor? Please don't tell Red or Yellow, they're trying to find out who it is and I really don't like how adamant about it they're being."

"I won't, but you don't have to worry. There's no way they'd win a vote against you. Besides, they're just being cautious."

"I know they are, they have every right to be," Blue groaned, burying his face in his hands as sank against the wall and looked absently at the security feed. 

Cyan sat down next to him, resting a hand in his shoulder. He was telling the truth when he said he wouldn't tell, Blue told him when he felt he trusted Cyan enough to do so, the least he could do was let him tell Red and Yellow himself. After a while, Cyan stood and offered his hand to Blue, who took it and allowed himself to be lifted. They left security and walked back down to o2. Now that he knew who it was, he wanted to hear the omitted details of their trip on The Skeld. They shook the other three awake and sat in a circle, explaining that Cyan knew. 

"-then once Red threatened to eat me, Blue snapped," White retold, not hiding Blue's identity this time. 

"He told us the whole thing at the meeting when we found Yellow," Orange finished. 

"I never wanted to kill anyone. Red was the one who, um, did the work. Lime was a threat to the crew-"

"and White," Black signed behind Blue's back. Orange hid their smile, and White pretended not to notice. 

"-and as much as I hate to admit it, I was hungry…"

"We placed an order for actual food once he told us about the whole situation," White followed up. 

"That would explain why we're scheduled to receive a shipment today." Cyan nodded. "I'll just tell Red and Yellow that you guys got sick of rations, that's not a total lie right?"

"Right. Oh! Blue, did you show him yet?" Orange asked excitedly. 

"Show me?" Cyan repeated. 

"Ok fine, you just want to see it again don't you?"

"Maybe."

"Show me what?"

Blue shifted into his natural form, answering Cyan's question. 

"Wow, how is something so dangerous so-"

"-adorable?"

"White!" Blue faltered, covering his face with one pair of claws. White laughed and leaned against him. 

Upon regaining his composer, Blue answered Cyan, "I  _ can _ be more intimidating, I just don't do that. It's a conscious thing."

"So the whole chest mouth thing is purposeful? It's not a part of your natural anatomy?" The scientists in him was fascinated, he wanted to find out more about the alien and his species. 

"Kinda? I mean-" He closed his mouth as another one appeared in between his two sets of arms- "I can open it wherever I want to, but naturally it's on my face."

Blue shifted back into the human form he had been taking, suit and helmet included. 

"You've been shape shifting a suit this whole time? How are you not freezing cold?"

"Impostors are naturally super adaptive to extreme climates."

The other three looked on in amusement as Cyan asked questions. White seemed apprehensive, but Blue gave her a look of reassurance. 

"Amazing. Blue, if it's not too intrusive, may I take a sample of your DNA for analysis? I won't label it in any way that would identify you, I swear."

Blue tensed up, the request processing in his head. Cyan started to get worried that he had overstepped a boundary, then Blue asked if he had a vial. He did. Cyan held it out to Blue. The mouth on his chest opened up, his tongue flicking out, hovering just over the vial. Cyan was about to scrape some saliva into the tube when a loud gasp made them all jump.


	3. Explanation

"Cyan!" Yellow was peeking around the trash chute, looking in on the scene in o2. 

Blue was sitting across from Cyan, mouth open and poised to attack. Cyan turned to look at her, but she ran. Yellow darted to the side, but Blue was faster. The doors out of o2 shut tight, blocking her path to the emergency meeting button. She was cornered. Sure, she could try to unlock the door, but there was no time. She should have known better than to trust the Skeld crew's judgment. After everything that she had gone through, Yellow was going to die by an impostor that wasn't even a part of the original Polus staff. 

"Yellow!"

"Get away from me!"

"Yellow, let me explain!" Blue pleaded. 

"Yellow, look at us!" 

She looked up at Cyan, who was fine. Blue was next to him. Orange, Black, and White stood behind them. More than half of the people in this site were crowded into this little corner. 

"Yellow, listen to me. Blue was just letting me take a DNA sample. I'm alright, we can trust him."

"Cyan? What's-"

He grabbed her shoulders and hugged her. "Look, Yellow. I know that we've been through a lot, I know that we have every right to be cautious, but we can trust Blue."

"Cyan look at him! He's an impostor! He's the same thing that killed Purple! And Pink! And Orange!"

"Yellow, please…"

She looked at Blue, trying to hide the fear with a mask of anger. "What? Are you going to try and convince me that you couldn't hurt a fly? I'm not naïve!"

"Stop, Yellow! Let him explain!" White butted in, in an attempt to defend her friend. 

"Fine!" She huffed, glaring at Blue, "but I want Red here."

Cyan sighed and looked apologetically to Blue before undoing the door's locking mechanism. The six astronauts slipped through the now open door and walked through the snow into the office building. 

~~~

Yellow did the honors of slamming her hand on the emergency meeting button. Gradually, the remainder of the crew filtered into the room, some still holding cups of coffee. Once everyone had sat down, Yellow turned to Blue. 

"Well?"

Blue took a deep breath, "It's me. I'm the impostor."

The only one who was surprised at this announcement was Red, and even they looked like this was simply confirmation on a theory. Pink and Brown simply looked at the others, glancing sympathetically to Blue. 

"So it _was_ Blue. I figured as much," Red said after a drawn out silence. 

Blue shifted uncomfortably under the attention. Although the number of friends outweighed the number of people who'd vote him out, the tangible dislike of him and all he was lingered in the air. He was about to speak before Yellow stood and glared at him. 

"So? Why are you doing this? Why is your kind sneaking onto ships and killing astronauts?"

"Yellow, he-"

"Can it, White! I'm not going to let you play favorites." She turned back to Blue. "Explain."

Blue shrunk under her glare, he could feel his disguised antennae fold back. He blinked, allowing his false visor to shift into his eye. 

"We, impostors, we didn't want to kill humans. We- they, uhm, we only started to sneak into crews because we- we had no choice. The first humans we met took our young as specimens, they took our resources, our prey, our homes… We disguise ourselves for our safety, we joined crews under the goal of escape. After a while, some simply got tired of hiding, and," Blue hesitated, "and there's only so long we can go without getting hungry. Some tried to fight against those who took, that's why we have the reputation."

The table was quiet. He hadn't told the whole story while on the Skeld, only that he was just trying to hitch a ride at first. This was the first time any impostor had told humans exactly why their situation was as it was. Nobody spoke. He was backed up against the wall now, folding in on himself like a caged animal. His form was slipping, allowing his hands to grow into claws, his pupil faintly showing through his visor. 

"We didn't want this war," Blue said in an unstable voice. "We're just trying to survive."

"Blue…" White gingerly put her hand on Blue's shoulder. 

"That doesn't explain why you murder innocent people who are just doing their jobs." Yellow said coldly. 

"Yeah, I'm with Yellow on this. A sob story isn't enough to excuse murder," Red stated off handedly. 

"He never said he fucking approved of it!" Orange shouted, ignoring Brown's reprimands for swearing, "Seriously! What is your deal? You couldn't even let him come clean himself!"

"You've had a lot more time to adjust than we have!"

While the table descended into chaos, Blue had slumped against the wall with his head buried in his arms. He had expected this. Logically, he knew he was safe, his friends would skip any vote for his removal and he would stay, but there was no stopping his imagination from running with worst case scenarios. 

_They're right,_ his subconscious whispered, _you had no right. You didn't need to kill._

Blue shook with held back tears, unaware of White at his side or the lull of conversation. He felt uncomfortable in his own skin, his scales shifting in ways that probably looked bizarre to the others. _He shouldn't be here._ He couldn't tell if he was still passable for human or not. _They should have thrown him out._ His claws dug into his arms. _It's only a matter of time._ The room was so loud, buzzing assaulted his ears. _He's gotten away with it too long._ Someone was pulling at his arm. _They're talking him away._ He trembled as he curled in on himself tighter than before. _It's no use._ He couldn't form words, he couldn't even form a mouth. _It's the end._ Someone's hands were grabbing his head. _It's over._

He blinked as his face was lifted to meet White's gaze. Her helmet was off. She was looking at him with worry written all over her face. Blue relaxed the death grip he had been holding his arms in. He bonked his head against White's, which received a soft chuckle from her as she leaned into the forehead contact. Blue took a moment to breathe. He was here, he was alright, he was allowed to stay.

Once he had his form under control, he glanced around the room. The crew was trying to act as if they weren't looking, with varied success. Still shaking slightly, Blue spoke. 

"I'm… I'm sorry." He rose from the floor and stood with White. He couldn't read Red or Yellow's expressions, their visors didn't help. 

"I suppose we have to put up with you, your crew won't let us throw you out anyway," Red replied with a restricted voice, as if they themself weren't sure how they felt. 

"Just don't try anything," Yellow added before leaving the room. 

Brown edged around the table and hurriedly looked Blue over. 

"Are you alright? Do you need anything? Food? Drink? Some space? I can make you some soup."

"I'm okay Brown, really. I'm just… I just got overwhelmed, is all."

"Blue, if somethin's bothering you, you can tell us. I can't imagine what you're going through in that head of yours." Pink said gently. 

"That was quite the bombshell you dropped there. I'm sorry about what we did." Orange started before Cyan groaned. 

"Of course it's humanity's fault. What the fuck is wrong with us!?"

Cyan began a long winded rant about respecting local lifeforms and being careful with limited resources. White laughed and leaned on Blue, holding his arm in hers. Blue was thankful for the distraction, even if it was a touchy subject, it made it much easier to come out of the panicked state he had been in. White's presence at his side helped too. He felt safe with her ever since the incident with Red in electrical, he could rely on her. 

~~~

White had gone into storage to retrieve fuel for the dropship, a task that someone had forgotten to do the day before. She was just fueling the transfer container when someone came in behind her. 

"What are you doing?"

"Huh?"

"What are you doing protecting the impostor!?" Yellow repeated. 

"One, his name is Blue, two, he saved my life. If it weren't for him protecting me from Red, we would all have been dead by day five."

"So!? White, he's an impostor!"

"He's my friend." She said defensively, "I know he's an impostor. I, of all people, know I shouldn't trust him, but I do. He hasn't hurt anyone who wasn't a threat to the safety of the crew."

"More like a threat to _you_ . Stop blindly defending him just because he's your _friend_ _!_ Can't you see? He's just marinating you!"

_Like the first Blue._ Her traitorous thoughts murmured. _Just like at HQ._

"Okay, I don't care WHAT happened to you and your crew," She snapped, "I get that there's few of you, and you've hit a really rough patch after your whole problem, I get it. But our blue is _NOT_ your imposter, _nor_ is he any other imposter before that. _MY_ Blue would _NEVER_ hurt me!"

Yellow stood in silent shock as White pushed past her, the canister of fuel abandoned. 

White stormed through electrical and into security. She wedged her fingers under her helmet, ripping it off and slamming it on the desk. She sunk into her hands and let herself cry. _Stupid wet anger._ She hoped that nobody would walk in on her, she did not have the energy to deal with someone worrying about her right then. She didn't have the energy to deal with Yellow and Red's apparent dislike of Blue. Sure, the crew hadn't completely trusted him at first either, but they hadn't been outright aggressive towards him. It's not _her_ Blue's fault that the Polus crew got attacked. 

_Oh._

_Wait…_

_Did she really just say that?_

White stepped back from the desk and looked at her reflection in the inactive screens. She didn't just call him ' _her Blue_ ', did she? Her hands found their way to her ponytail and began to twist and pull at it. 

"Did I- I just-" She spluttered to herself, "I didn't just say- I-"

Sure, she had been fond of Blue, and they had fallen asleep next to each other on multiple occasions, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. 

  
It's not like she _loved_ him, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehheheh


	4. Adjustment

The shipment of not-ration-based food arrived right on time. Once it had been unloaded and most of it packed into storage, Blue had taken a small box that appeared to contain raw meat and announced that he would be taking it to eat somewhere so as not to disturb anyone. He then promptly slid into a hole in the ground and disappeared for several minutes. 

This unsettled Yellow. She had been conditioned, naturally, to see someone venting as a bad thing. Whenever she saw Blue do this she had to stop herself from running to the button. 

She was trying to be accepting, she really was. After what White had said, she began to look at it from Blue's perspective. If _she_ had been an alien who's home planet had been invaded and plundered, and her only choice to survive was to hide on a ship with the invaders, while others of her species did the very thing the invaders were afraid of, she wouldn't feel very good about that, she'd hide who she was and pretend to be what she's not.

Nevertheless, it was hard to unlearn what many others before her had told her to live by. Her brother had told her to never travel alone, her sister had told her to be careful about who she trusted, her superiors had told her to report any suspicious activity to the group to eliminate any threats. It was difficult to make herself think otherwise, even if it was just for this specific impostor.

She had seen him in specimen, sorting and organizing samples using two extra arms growing out of his torso. He had hid them as soon as he realized she was in the room, apologizing and saying it was easier to hold them that way. She simply smiled awkwardly, unlocked the manifolds, and left. 

Every time she passed him when nobody else was in the room, her subconscious whispered to her that he was going to kill her then and there. She knew the chance of that actually happening was low, but she kept her distance nonetheless. Blue did the same. 

One afternoon (or whatever qualifies), Black had approached her for some reason or another and she had flinched away, having only seen his glove in her peripheral vision. She had apologized and answered his question, moving on like it hadn't happened. Blue, who had seen it, asked about it once Black had left. Yellow reminded him that _her_ Black had been an impostor and that, for a second, she didn't realize it wasn't the old Black. He understood and said he was wary of Red at first as well. Yellow left that conversation with a sense of understanding. 

~~~

Seeing Blue without his helmet gave Red an uncanny feeling. The guy's face looked human at a glance, but if you actually paid attention you could find too many things wrong with it. His teeth were too sharp, his ears were too pointed, his eyes (if you could get him to push his hair out of the way) had completely black sclera, and any color that came to his face was tinted blue. 

That didn't mean he looked bad, he actually looked pretty alright. The features were just something that, once noticed, you couldn't believe you missed. 

Orange jolted up, holding their cards in the air. "Aha! Draw four, Blue!"

Blue, who was holding a ridiculous amount of cards, sighed as he grabbed the top four cards from the deck. 

"This is just pay back from last round huh?"

"Yes. You can't just stack two Draw fours on top of each other like that."

"I thought you said we could! You let Black do it!"

"Not morally, you can't! Also, those were Draw twos."

"I said I was sorry!"

Red stifled a laugh. They had to admit, as tense as it was being in the same room as a known impostor, it was hard to see the guy as a threat. Just the other day, they had seen him flinch at the card reader denying his swipe. 

As time went on and tension relaxed, Blue could often be found without his helmet, little fuzzy antennae poking out of his hair. He didn't get rid of his human disguise all out, but Red found it interesting that he took little shortcuts to stay in human form longer. Be it his hands being slightly more claw-like than normal, or simply letting his hair be the same color as his natural tone. 

Early one morning, Red found themselves in comms sketching on a loose piece of paper. It wasn't much, Red usually drew their teammates whenever they didn't know what else to draw, and one of them being an alien was definitely enough to warm up with. They didn't realize that Blue had walked in until he asked what they were doing. Upon further clarification, Red discovered that Blue had never heard of drawing before. When they had expressed shock at that, Blue stated that he'd never let himself get close enough with past crewmates to learn about hobbies. Red then took it upon themselves to try and find Blue a hobby. 

After lots of cycling through the options, Blue decided that he liked gardening. Red agreed that it suited him. He could spend more time in the greenhouse, and he seemed to be really good with plants. 

~~~

"What do you mean you've been without a medic for three and a half weeks!?"

Cyan was in the lab with Blue, following up on the DNA sample the impostor had supplied. Blue shrugged. 

"I don't know what to tell you, we said that our Yellow died on day four, didn't we?"

"You did. I just didn't realize what that meant. How have you guys been dealing with injuries?"

"Black's experienced enough to know how to clean cuts 'n what not." He glanced at the floor. "Personally, I'm not sure how human medicine would affect me, so I've just been careful."

"Wait, what?! Blue, do you have any idea how much you could have been exposed to? How long have you been interacting with humans without any first aid?!"

"Uhhhmmm about three years? I think?"

Cyan brought his hand to his visor in a mock facepalm. He then began rattling off symptoms for Blue to confirm or deny feeling, most of which were denied. 

"Shortness of breath? Hyperventilating?"

"Sometimes, only if I'm really stressed out though."

"I see… how about a tight pressure in your chest?"

"Usually at the same time as the hyperventilating. Is that not normal? I was never supposed to let myself feel and I'm not sure what those kinds of things mean."

"Blue that's called panic. Yes, it's completely normal, although if you're panicking as often as you say, I suggest finding ways to de-escalate. I understand that this whole situation is a lot and if there's any way I can make it easier for you, please, let me know. I want you to be comfortable, Blue."

The impostor simply sat there for a moment, processing what had just been said. Then, his helmet split into a smile as he blinked away tears. 

"Oh, Cyan… you really don't have to…"

"Yes I do, I'm the doctor of this crew, and I say that my patients comfort is an important part of their mental and emotional well-being." Cyan gave him a gentle smile. 

"-But we will need to see how your system reacts to human antibiotics, we can't have you getting sick."

"I know."

~~~

Blue was pacing around the trash compactor, occasionally muttering to himself. He stopped when Orange passed by on their way to the boiler room to refill the water cooler. 

"Orange?"

"Yeah Blue?"

"Is White avoiding me?"

Orange froze in the doorway, nearly dropping the water jug, "Not that I'm aware. What makes you think that?"

Blue glanced around, making sure they were alone. He began to fidget nervously with the straps on his suit. 

"It's just… she's been acting weird since the meeting the other day. She keeps looking at me and then looking away when I notice, she isn't talking around me very much. Did I do something wrong?"

"Ah," Orange nodded. "I have a hunch, but I don't really think it's my place to say."

"Come on, please? I don't want to have done something to make her hate me."

"Woah! Hate you? Blue, chill, I don't think she _could_ hate you."

"You don't know that! She told me about a Blue on her first assignment with MIRA and I don't want to give her any reason to just-"

"Blue," Orange interrupted before the impostor could dig himself into a deeper hole, "I can assure you, she doesn't hate you. I might be the youngest person here, but I'm not dense. You didn't do anything wrong."

Blue ducked his head. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." Orange set the water jug down and held out their arms, offering a hug that Blue accepted. 

The two stood there for a moment, Blue nearly lifting Orange off of the ground, before breaking apart. 

"Thanks kid, I really needed that."

"It's no problem, Blue. I can understand being confused or worried about how someone feels about you, you're not alone." They picked the water jug up and began to walk to the office, Blue followed. 

Once they were there and Orange had replaced the jug, they hung around making idle conversation. Eventually, Orange noticed that Blue seemed distracted. They asked him about it. Blue was reluctant to say, but after looking around to see a relatively empty building, he leaned in closer to them. 

"I think… I think I like White," He whispered. "Romantically, I mean."

Orange was stunned. They didn't say anything for a moment due to the rush of thoughts like, _he didn't know? I thought they were trying to hide it but he didn't even know???_

"Oh, really?"

"I'm pretty sure? I mean, back on the Skeld, I defended her when I really didn't need to, and I got super protective after Red revealed himself to me. I thought I was just protecting my _friend_ , but now that I think back to it, it felt like I myself was in danger when White was in danger," He paused. "It's not like I wouldn't have protected anyone else, if it had been _you_ I would have still protected you, but it felt… _different_ , you know? That's not even addressing what I did to Lime…"

Orange listened as Blue rambled about why he realized it, all the while thinking about how oblivious his two coworkers were. 

"I'm worried, though…"

They cocked their head to the side, Blue continued. 

"What if she doesn't feel the same? If I tell her and it's not reciprocated, I might completely ruin our friendship! I don't even know how human relationships work!" He worried. "I'm an alien, Orange! We're not even the same species!"

"Blue! Calm down… breathe."

"I'm calm," He muttered. "I'm calm."

"I can neither confirm nor deny your fears, it is not my place to, but I'm sure that whatever you end up doing will end alright."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." They reached up, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I know this kind of thing is easy to worry about, I can't blame you for being scared."

"Thank you Orange, you're a good friend."

"I try to be."


	5. Emergency

Weeks passed by and the Polus crew fell into a routine. Wake up, eat breakfast, do your tasks and hopefully get done before lunch. After their tasks were taken care of, each crewmate could be found doing their chosen past-time. 

Red would be sketching or filing reports in admin or comms, Yellow would be tucked away in the library, Cyan going over medical documents, Pink and Orange talking about whatever that days topic was, Black helping Brown teach Penny sign language, Blue preening the leaves on the tree in o2 and White was usually with him. 

She was sitting against the wall, watching him take care of the tree while listening to music on a device that she had brought from home. 

"What are you listening to?" Blue asked, trying to peek at the screen. 

"Why don't you hear for yourself?" White unplugged the earbuds and set the device down between them. 

It was calm for a moment. The tree room was empty, save for them, and a chill draft blew from the open door at the bottom of o2. The player had randomly selected a rather gentle song, she wished the lyrics were a bit less openly romantic. Blue's hand found hers and she felt her face heat up.  _ He was so close.  _ He stood, bringing White up with him. She realized that Blue was leading her in a dance. 

"I didn't know you could dance."

"I thought it looked fun, I've been practicing," Blue said with a small laugh.  _ His laugh is so cute.  _

They swayed to the song, humming along to the melody. Hand in hand, grass softly crunching under their boots, if any moment was more appropriate to tell him how she felt, she couldn't imagine what it would be.  _ After the song.  _

The song ended. Nothing played afterwards, it must have been the end of the playlist. White and Blue looked at each other. She wanted to tell him, but the words kept getting stuck in her throat.  _ He's so close.  _ The silence was unbearable. 

~~~

_ She was so close. _

He wanted to say something, anything. The song had ended and, with the exception of their breathing, the room was quiet.  _ Why did he do that? He probably made her uncomfortable. That was too much.  _ He wanted to break the silence. 

"White, I-"

He was cut off as the alarm blared across the site. Red lights flashed as the ever familiar sound ricocheted off of every wall. Something vital was malfunctioning. 

Blue bent down and scooped up the device, handing it to White before they ran from o2. A quick check of his task list told him that the seismic stabilizers were acting up. He ran to the nearest one, which was next to electrical, White ran behind him. 

"I think I see Cyan and Orange over at the other one!" She yelled over the alarm as Blue slammed his hand on the scanner.

One second, two seconds, and the alarm stopped. They let out a relieved sigh, leaning on each other. White looked up at him. 

"So, uh, what were you saying?"

Blue blushed, thankful that he was wearing an actual helmet today instead of shape shifting one. 

"Oh, it- nothing. It doesn't matter anymore." 

The button was pressed, alerting everyone to a meeting. Slowly, everyone gathered around the table. Red, who had pushed the button, was standing with their hands on the table. 

"So. The stabilizers are acting up."

"Indeed they are, Yellow. I've called this meeting to discuss why."

Blue felt self conscious. Most of the time, equipment like this doesn't mess up without impostor interference. He hoped that Red was about to say anything else.

As expected, they looked at Blue.  _ Oh sure, blame the alien. _

"I didn't do anything! It was probably just a malfunction!"

"Where were you right during the crisis?" They asked, their tone neutral. 

"Blue and I were together in o2 right before it happened," White supplied. "I would have seen if he did it. Even so, he was the one who fixed the one by electrical."

"I'm just trying to get information, White. I don't want to think it's him either, its procedure. I'm not attacking Blue."

"Sure feels like you are." She shifted closer to him, putting a hand on his arm. 

"It's ok, White. I understand," He said. 

"In any case, I was going to call a meeting anyway," Red continued. "Just before the malfunction, we received a transmission in comms. I have yet to listen to it, and I think we should all head over there and hear it."

The crew filed out of the office building and gathered outside of comms by the receiver. Red approached the dial, fiddling with it a bit before the message came through. A frantic voice that sounded like they were running played. 

"Hello?! This is Purple, from the Kiln! The reactor is in the middle of a meltdown, the doors are locked and we can't get to it! I don't know where anyone is-"

A crash as they fell over something. 

"-oh  _ stars _ , Brown… please if you can hear this,  _ send help! _ "

The sound of a door opening and an additional voice joined in. 

"There you are!"

"Green!" They sounded scared. "Where's Red?"

"There's no time! Come on, Black got an escape pod wor-"

The transmission ended there. 

Nobody spoke for a moment. 

"That must be what the explosion was."

Everyone turned to Orange. 

"I was in lab looking through the telescope. I saw an explosion not too far from the atmosphere, that's when the malfunction happened. The timeline lines up, I think?"

"Oh those  _ poor _ souls… do you think they made it out?" Brown asked, Penny clinging to her leg. 

"There's no telling if they did," Red began. "I can't tell if the Kiln was pointing in our direction or not. I  _ could _ try to narrow down the coordinates to try-"

The communicator fizzled to life again, cutting Red off. They frantically turned the dial, trying to get clearer audio. 

"-ot sure if anyone can hear this…" They cleared their throat. "This is Purple, navigator of the Kiln. Our ship has just blown up, the result of a reactor meltdown. I am currently in a three person escape pod with our captain, Black, and our mechanic, Green. We are aiming for a planet that Black tells me is called Polus. If you receive this message, please send help."

"Nobody's gonna find us."

"I know, but we have to hope. How do I turn this off agai-"

The second transmission ended. 

Silence. 

"So who wants t' go on a hike to find these guys?" Pink asked the group. 

"We should send four or five of us," Red said. "Someone needs to stay here in case it takes longer to find them than expected."

"Good idea. Cyan should go, they might need medical attention."

"Sure, just volunteer me. I will go, though."

"White, you've worked with MIRA for a while," Yellow said, "maybe your experience might help? At the very least, they'll know we aren't a bunch of rookies when we find them."

"I don't see why not."

"Woah, wait," Blue interjected. "We don't know what's out there, we haven't exactly left the site. How do we know it's safe?"

"D'you wanna go, Blue?" Pink said slyly. 

"Maybe…"

"Okay, so Blue, White, and Cyan. Who else?"

"I'll go too. I could use a change of scenery." Yellow said, but Blue could feel her eying him behind her visor.

"Alright then, Yellow, Blue, White, and Cyan will head out to these coordinates-" Red handed Cyan a scrap of paper. "-and try to find their escape pod once it lands."

"I'll go get us some coats from storage." Yellow ran off to the other building.

~~~

The rescue team stood at the fence separating the research site from the rest of Polus, each dressed in a winter coat of their respective color. Cyan had the coordinates in his hand and a duffle bag with various first aid equipment inside was slung over his shoulder. White had a bag full of food, for both the trip and in case the escapees hadn't eaten in a while. Yellow had a shovel slung over her back and her hands were occupied by a hatchet and a crowbar, in case the escape pod was partially buried or stuck shut. Blue didn't have anything, but he justified this by saying if anything went sour he'd need his arms free. 

The rest of the crew gathered around to wave them off and wish them luck. The four of them climbed over the fence (with a boost from Blue) and set off to find their new friends.

Red watched as they disappeared in the snow before turning to face Pink.

“I hope that was just a malfunction. Earthquakes can get pretty nasty out there.”

“Y’think they’ll be alright?”

“Maybe, but we’ll have to be quick if the stabilizers act up again. If we don't, who knows how bad it’ll be.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you liked that little confession teaser :)


	6. Rescue

The moment they lost sight of the research site, it began to snow. While this normally wouldn't be a problem due to the river of lava to their side, Cyan estimated that the group would have to leave its warmth before nightfall if they wanted to get anywhere near the projected landing site in the next two days. They decided to savor the warmth while they could. When Yellow worried about how cold it could get, saying that the temperature logs back at the site regularly got far down into the negatives, they all huddled slightly closer together. They should have brought their helmets, the insulation would have been much appreciated. 

After a while, the team paired off and started talking among themselves. Cyan and Blue were discussing what they might find at the landing site, voicing their concerns about the crew. Yellow and White fell slightly behind them, conversation feeling rather forced. 

"I don't get what you see in him," Yellow said in a hushed voice so that the guys wouldn't hear. 

"What?" White asked, slightly taken aback. 

"Blue. I get that he saved your life, but other than that I don't understand why you're so head-over-heels for him."

"I am  _ not _ head-over-heels for Blue," she lied. 

"Mhm, so then why do you spend all of your free time with him? Why do you two always put your sleeping bags  _ right next to each other? _ What were you two doing together in o2 before the meeting?"

"You saw?"

"I had some canisters to fill. You seemed like you were having fun so I didn't interrupt. Can't imagine you were too happy when the stabilizers went off." 

"Okay okay, fine. Maybe I like him a little…"

"A little? Girl, I catch you two cuddling  _ all the time _ ."

"That doesn't necessarily mean anything, who says you can't do all of that with your friends? Besides, it's just a stupid crush, it'll probably die down eventually."

"You haven't answered my question, what do you see in him?"

"Well, he's sweet, cute, his laugh is adorable, he's a great friend, he tries his best to make everyone comfortable around him, extremely brave-"

"Okay we get it, you're in love." Yellow rolled her eyes. "I guess I can see where you're coming from."

"Why the change of heart?" White asked. "I thought you hated Blue."

"I hate  _ impostors _ . Blue is… an exception, I guess. If you say he's good, then… I guess I can live with him."

While White was restraining herself from hugging Yellow, Cyan asked a question that he had been wondering for a while as the group began to veer away from the lava. 

"Blue, was the Skeld really the  _ first _ time you've been revealed?"

Blue considered the question. It was uncommon for an impostor to last three whole years with being found out, most of them being ejected and few lucky ones escaping to some livable planet. He thought back to earlier ships he had been on. There were a couple where he had  _ almost _ been revealed, an other impostor trying to throw him under the bus in a last ditch effort to save themselves, but he had always managed to slip away. Though… 

"There  _ was _ one time. It was about a year ago, by MIRA standard time, I was on a cargo vessel. The crew figured me out and tried to get rid of me. The only reason I escaped was because I hid in the vents until the ship docked. Then I hid around the docks for a couple days before hiding on a different ship," Blue sighed, "It was… tough, to say the least."

"Oh jeez, Blue- that must have been hard on you."

"It was. It's gotten easier over time, I can stay passable for human way longer than I did way back when."

"I really am sorry for what humans did."

"You don't have to apologize, Cyan. You humans are curious by nature, I can't blame you for wanting to know more about the universe. Besides, it's not like it's  _ your _ fault in particular." Blue flicked Cyan's balloon, snickering at the noise it made. 

They walked a couple hours longer before the wind kicked up, roaring against distant cliffs, flinging snow in the group's faces. As the sun dipped lower on the horizon, they began to look for a place to set up camp. As they slid down a steep hill, Yellow pointed out a potential shelter. A small overhang formed natural cover from the elements, leaving walls of snow and ice for extra protection. 

Once huddled together in the small cave, they tried to stay warm. This proved rather difficult until Blue swallowed his pride and shifted into his natural form, effectively becoming a giant space heater. He laid across the back of the cave and invited the others to join him. 

White had sat with her knees tucked to her chest right between Blue's top two arms, leaning her head on his shoulder. Blue draped his coat over her for additional insulation. Cyan joined shortly after, stretching out face down across Blue's torso beside his second pair of arms. Yellow was hesitant to join the pile, as the only place not taken up by arms or crewmates was the same place she had seen a mouth appear before. Eventually, she gave in to the cold and sat down between White and Cyan, looking away from Blue. 

They all sat there for a while, falling asleep one by one. Cyan and White had passed out first, their breathing slowing as the sky darkened. Blue was watching the sky, keeping his eye out for a glimpse of the escape pod had it not already crashed. 

"Why did you come, Blue," Yellow asked. 

"What?"

"Why were you suddenly so worried when White said she'd come?"

He blinked, slightly taken aback by the out of nowhere question. 

"I was… worried about the possibility of one or more of the survivors being an impostor." He looked down at White. "I figured, if I came along, maybe I could figure out if that was the case before they had a chance to hurt anyone."

"Why didn't you just say that?"

"I didn't want to scare everyone, or make anyone have second thoughts about saving them."

"Of course we'd still save them!" She started, slightly indignantly, "They shouldn't be left out here alone."

"Yeah, well, I've seen plenty of non-impostors tossed out of airlocks before anyone even died. You can see where I'd get the idea from."

"I guess so..."

"It's just- you guys are all I have. I can't bear to lose any of you and I don't know how I'd live with myself knowing that I could have prevented it. You all mean a lot to me." He paused, trying to find the right words. "I didn't understand the human concept of  _ family _ before, but, I feel like  _ you're _ my family. Does that make sense, Yellow?"

She didn't answer for a moment, when she did it was barely audible. 

"It does."

It was quiet for a long time after that. Blue thought that Yellow had fallen asleep. He almost drifted off himself, but perked up when he heard her say one more thing. 

"Take care of White, okay? She really cares about you."

On that note, Blue closed his eye and curled protectively around his friends. 

~~~

It took three hours after they had resumed their trek for Polus' sun to peek over the distant mountains. Cyan had wanted to take a small detour to the top of a rock spire so as to attempt to send a transmission to the survivors. He had returned to them with concerning news. 

"First off, I'm not sure if it went through to them. The transmission we received back at base came from a  _ personal _ transmitter, not one from a ship that can receive stuff back. As there isn't anyway for me to tell if the escape pod has its own transmitter or not, we'll just have to hope that they got the message. Second, I'm  _ pretty _ sure I saw a small landslide a ways over east. From the looks of it, it wasn't natural. They might have landed nearby."

"Well that great! We have an idea on how close we are." White clapped her hands together in celebration. 

"Off we go?" Yellow asked. 

"Off we go." Cyan confirmed. 

So on they went, trudging through the snow and ice, occasionally using Yellow's shovel to create handholds in the permafrost when a slope was too steep to walk. By the time they had found level ground Yellow's legs were shaking, White was leaning on Blue, and Cyan looked about ready to pass out. The sun was overhead now, but clouds large enough to shadow entire plateaus were threatening to cover the sky. 

Squinting in the direction that Cyan had pointed, White could almost make out disturbed earth and broken metal scraps. She voiced her concerns about damage to the pod and what that would entail to the people inside. Cyan placed a hand on his bag of medical equipment and reassured her that he would be prepared. The team clambered their way across the rocky terrain and broke into a small jog as they neared the pod. 

Once they were all close enough to get a good look at it, Blue noted severe hull damage and a completely destroyed booster rocket. He walked around it, looking for the hatch or a window. 

"Oi! I think I found the door, it's all dented. Might need the crowbar."

The whole thing shuddered and White jumped back. Someone inside was trying to bust the hatch open. 

"Definitely gonna need the crowbar." She rapped her fist against the chassis. "Hey! Are you all still alive in there? Hold tight we're gonna get you out!"

Yellow hooked the crowbar in the hatch and put all of her weight on it. When that didn't work, Cyan pulled with her. This almost got it open, bending the metal enough to almost break the seal. Yellow readjusted and tried again. Finally, the hatch opened. 

White moved in, grabbing the first arm she could. She pulled out an unconscious Purple, who was followed by still conscious Black and Green. 

"Finally, I was gonna go stir crazy if I was stuck in there another day," Green grumbled as he stretched out. 

"Don't be ungrateful," Black scolded before turning to Cyan and Yellow, "Thank you for finding us, I wasn't sure Purple's message would even reach anyone."

"You're lucky we got it when we did, we saw the Kiln blow up through the telescope back at base. Got here as soon as we could. It's a day or so's walk back west, do you think you're up to it?" Cyan asked, pulling his bag of medical supplies from his shoulder. 

"Pretty sure we're fine," Black said, despite the fact that he was holding his right shoulder and probably wincing behind his visor, "Purple might be experiencing shock but they're asleep right now. You alright, Green?"

"I'm fine, let's just go already I'm freezing my ass off."

"I brought coats." Cyan pulled the folded coats from his bag and offered them. Green took his with a grumble.

"Well, if we're all ready to go, Blue would you mind?" White shifted, passing Purple to him. Blue nodded and picked them up, holding them to his chest in a subtle attempt to keep them warm. 

"Let's get to it then, we've got a lot of ground to cover."

~~~

Something about Black was very familiar to White. She had a small hunch as to why, but what are the chances? If this was the same Black from MIRA HQ, what are the odds that  _ his _ ship would pass  _ this _ planet, much less that he'd crash and be found by the site  _ she _ worked at? Logically she should just ask him if he happened to be who she thought he was, but if she were wrong that'd be embarrassing. Maybe… She walked closer to him. 

"How's your shoulder, sir?"

"It's fine, just banged it up on entry. Old injury, is all."

"Old injury?"

"I got shot once."

"About five years ago, yes?

"How did you-" He flipped his visor up, it was definitely the same, fatherly face. "White?"

"It's nice to see you again, Captain." White smiled. She was right. 

"Well what are the odds, I never thought I'd run into you again. How have you been?"

"Well, same as always. We lost half a crew before we got here."

"Oh really? Glad to see you're still kicking."

"Tell me about it. Polus had it worse though, just ask Yellow or Cyan, they and Red were the only survivors. It's them, me, Blue, Pink, Orange, Brown, and Black now. Oh right we'll have to figure our way around that…"

"Black can keep the name, Captain works fine."

"Alright, I'll be sure to tell the crew. Anyway, how have you been?"

"Oh I decided to step back a bit from bigger assignments. Just smaller crew sizes, less to worry about, or so I thought."

"Hmm?"

"You probably heard Purple's message, I'm not sure how much they disclosed but it was not very pretty in those final few minutes up there."

"Oh yeah, they sounded so scared… Did you know who the impostor was?"

"Yeah, Red." He paused before lowering his voice. "I'm not quite sure if she was the only one, though."

"You think..?"

"That it could be Purple or Green? Maybe not, but we never had a chance to eject Red either. No way to confirm for certain. Anyway, we lost three good people up there, excluding Red. Purple tells me they tripped over Brown's body during the meltdown, and Yellow and Pink were found in Comms and Shields respectively."

"Oh, that's awful…"

"Yeah… Purple didn't take it very well. Poor kid was a wreck the whole first day in the escape pod. Their first assignment and it ends in disaster." Black shook his head in sympathy. "I suppose you can relate, White."

"That I can, Captain."

~~~

The trip back remained largely uneventful. Their second night out in the Polus wilderness was considerably colder without their impostor heating pad available, but they made it through. Purple had woken up with the rest of the group and was thoroughly confused for a few minutes before they woke up fully. Once they had been caught up, the journey continued. 

As expected from the clouds the day before, the sun was hidden from view as thunder rolled over the scenery. Snow and thunder, while uncommon on most planets, were frequently paired on Polus, calmer snowfall being a much appreciated commodity. 

_ Just push through it, we'll be back at base in no time. _ Blue thought as the ground shook with seismic activity.  _ They've probably got the stabilizers handled.  _

Blue let out a sigh as the site appeared out of the haze, tucked neatly away in the shelter of a cliff. Sure enough, the ground stopped shaking. 

"Hey!" Cyan yelled past the chain fence to anyone on the other side, "We're back!"

"About time! We were startin' to think Red gave y'all the wrong coordinates or somethin'!"

Pink appeared at the edge of the nearest building, Black close behind, holding a gas canister each. They watched as the group clambered over the fence.

"Welcome to the site, glad to see y'all in one piece," Pink addressed the new arrivals, "If any of you need to go to medbay, you've got our medic right here. Sleeping bags are in admin, just set yourself up wherever when you settle down for the night. If you need any help finding anything, Red's usually in admin."

Blue left as she gave them the run through. He pulled White aside. Once they were alone in storage, he shifted back into a suit. 

"White, they all smell like an impostor. It's not like a residual thing, at least one of them isn't human. They probably know I'm not either."

"Captain thought the same thing. Any clue who it is?"

"No. They were all right next to each other for at least two days, it's too muddled to tell." He looked nervously at the door, "I'm scared, White."

"Hey," White said gently as she reached for his hands, "We'll be alright. We just have to keep an eye out for a while."

"Okay… okay, we'll be alright." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> psst  
> if you want to get little mini updates every now and then you can follow paf-writes on tumblr, I also post art there sometimes


	7. Normalcy

Nothing happened for a while. The crew slipped back into routine, with the added dynamics brought in by the three new additions. Green's mood never seemed to improve, the nicest anyone had seen him was when he was with Purple, and even then he wasn't outwardly nice. The Captain helped Red with reports and other important paperwork whenever MIRA sent some, Red appreciated the help and their mood brightened significantly. Purple hung out with Orange, almost matching their enthusiasm about the stars, the similarities between the two seemed to be never ending. 

Nobody broached the topic of impostors for a while. Blue and White kept their suspicion to themselves, not wanting to stir up fear. Eventually, after nearly a week of nothing happening, they calmed down.

White got caught up with the Captain, exchanging stories with each other. Blue spent time in the tree room, talking with whoever was in o2 at the time. 

"Hey Blue, how are you doing?" Brown asked while stepping over the hole in the ground to get to the download. 

"I'm alright, you?"

"I'm good. Little tired, but hey, what's new?"

"How's Penny?" He asked, lowering himself from the branch he had been sitting on. 

"She's doing just fine." Brown patted the child's head, "Still quiet, but that's why Black's been helping me teach her."

She removed her helmet, holding it under her arm as she brushed a hand through her curly hair. She looked tired. 

"Do you need anyone to watch her for a bit? I can tell you need a break and I'm not really doing anything anyway."

"Really? Oh, thank you, Blue. You're a lifesaver." She kneeled down and looked at Penny. "Okay sweetie, I'm going to go upload and finish the rest of my tasks, you stay here with mister Blue, alright?"

Penny nodded and Brown thanked Blue again before pulling her helmet on and leaving o2. Penny turned to Blue. 

"Hey kid, what's up?"

She held out her arms and made grabby hands. Blue picked her up and held her on his shoulders. She giggled and hugged his head. Blue practically melted. He had seen human children on ships before, but he had never been too good with them. They tended to be scared of him. It made him happy that Penny wasn't scared. 

"Do you want to help me pick off dead leaves?"

She nodded and Blue climbed into the branches, being extra careful to keep her from falling. He pointed out which leaves were dead and held her out to pick them. She seemed to be having fun. 

She yawned. Blue hopped out of the tree, leaned against the trunk of the tree and sat her next to him. She slumped against his arm and sleepily played with the grass. He wondered what time it was, probably late, judging by the dim light streaming through the window. He purred softly as Penny drifted to sleep. 

Brown returned half an hour later, carrying a tray of food. 

"Hey, thanks again for watching her. I brought you some dinner."

"It's no problem, Brown. I'm happy to help. Oh, and thanks."

Brown picked up Penny and carried her out of o2, presumably to wherever she had set up her sleeping bag. Blue ate his food and stood, stretching out as he went to retrieve his own sleeping bag.

~~~

White was up late, redoing the wiring across the site for the umpteenth time. There was no doubt in her mind that the Captain was right about there being an impostor. This sabotage was too consistent to be a pest. She could fix the wiring in one room, only to double back later and see it undone again. It was starting to get annoying. 

She screwed the panel back on and closed her toolbox. A look around the lab showed that she was alone, the only sound was the beeping of machinery. 

The peaceful quiet atmosphere was interrupted by footsteps coming down the hallway. White didn't have a chance to move before Green came walking in. 

"What are you doing here?" He asked with hostility evident in his voice. 

"I could ask you the same thing. For your information, I am fixing wires. Something's been getting into them, I've been working all night. Your turn."

"It's none of your business."

"It really is."

"Fine! I didn't finish my tasks. I couldn't sleep so I figured I'd come do my last one. Happy now?"

"Yes…" She said apprehensively, "carry on."

White turned away and began the walk back to her sleeping bag in the tree room when her tablet pinged again, notifying her of yet more wires.  _ Great _ . As luck would have it, the sabotaged wires were in o2 anyway, and there was only one set to fix.

She had just unscrewed the panel when there was a rustle of movement to her left. 

"White? What are you doing up?" Orange asked, stifling a yawn. 

"Fixing all this, somethings been getting into the wiring."

"Still? You've been fixing wires since I saw you at lunch! Go to bed already."

"Just this last set." She soldered the last two wires together. "There.  _ Now _ I can sleep."

"About time," They said, rolling their eyes, "Come on, Blue was wondering where you were."

"I'll have to apologize for worrying him in the morning."

The two retired to the tree room from the night. White didn't tell Orange, but she felt watched. 

~~~

The crew tried to get Green to warm up to them, including him in conversation and inviting him to do tasks together. Orange on the other hand, did not like Green. They didn't like his strange bat-winged hat, they didn't like how quiet and still he was until addressed, and they definitely didn't like the effect he had on Purple. 

Orange had walked through specimen, having quickly run through unlocking the manifolds, and decided to swing by the office to swipe their card. When they had stepped into the room however, they had seen Purple backed into the corner, Green towering over them. Orange didn't like how uncomfortable they looked so they made their presence known by loudly clearing their throat. Green had backed off, and even though they couldn't see through his reflective visor, Orange could feel his glare. Purple looked relieved, but didn't tell Orange what had happened when asked. They didn't press it, but it solidified their dislike of Green. 

They didn't try to mention anything to anyone else. They didn't want to raise any unnecessary alarm. They almost brought up his behavior at the meeting when the crew addressed concerns about changes the new crew brought about, but they didn't. Purple had been embarrassed enough when Orange had seen that one incident, they didn't want to make them anymore exposed than they already were. 

"Why do you let him do that? Shouldn't you tell the Captain?" Orange had asked them while stargazing one night. 

"I- I don't know. I guess I owe it to Green after all he's done for me back on the Kiln."

"Like what?"

"Keeping me alive, vouching for me, protecting me. I probably wouldn't be here if he hadn't-" Purple cut themselves off. 

"What's wrong?"

"It's- it's nothing, Orange. Don't worry about it."

"Purple, this was my first assignment too. If you're stressed, I understand-"

"It's not that, it's just- I need a minute." They moved to leave. Their foot tapped, a nervous tic that Orange had noticed and found quite cute. 

"Where are you going?"

"I just need some air." This made no sense, as they were already standing on the balcony in lab. 

Purple disappeared into decontamination. Orange ran after them, concerned for their friend, but the doors closed on them. They waited nervously for the doors to unlock, if Purple was going through something, they didn't want to let them suffer in silence.

The doors reopened and Orange briskly stepped inside, having second thoughts. What if they were hurting their relationship by pushing?  _ What if they had misjudged their relationship and they weren't as close as they previously thought? _ Orange shook their head.  _ No, they should be there for them.  _

They turned the corner into specimen. There, standing on the other side of the table, was Purple. They were holding their helmet in their hands, their head down. Their headband drifted idly in the drafty room, but that couldn't be right, it was tied around their helmet, not their head. That's when the excess ribbon perked in a way that fabric wouldn't move, Purple moved their head ever so slightly, showing more of their profile. They weren't human. 

"Purple?"

They shoved their helmet back on their head and turned so quickly you'd think they'd been expecting it. 

"Orange! I- I can explain!"

"Purple…"

"I'm not- I've never-" They stuttered out as they brought their hands to their head. 

"Purple."

Orange reached out and gently took their hands from their guarded position, stopping Purple where they were. 

"It's okay… I won't tell anyone…"

Purple's breath caught in their throat as they began to cry to Orange. The two folded in on each other, Orange comforting them as long as they needed. 

Purple's sniffling died down and their breathing slowed to a normal pace. They looked to Orange. 

"You're… awfully calm about, well- me."

"You would not be the first alien I have met."

"What?"

"Oh right, we forgot to tell you guys," Orange laughed. 

"Forgot to tell us what?"

"Okay, so, back on the Skeld, we had an impostor problem, yeah? Well one of the impostors wasn't actually trying to kill us, they even ended up protecting us by killing the other impostor! So we, uh, kinda let them stay. They've been nothing but nice the entire time."

"There's been an impostor living here the entire time?"

"Yep! That's why we're so nonchalant about everything. If anything were to try and hurt us, they'd protect us! You should have seen what happened to the last person who tried to hurt someone, that was the only time they actually killed a crewmate and even then they felt bad about it."

"What happened to warrant the crewmate's death?"

"Not important, let's just say Lime tried to take matters into his own hands."

"Wait, so, there's an impostor. Here? At this base?"

"We didn't even need to figure out who it was, they came forward and told us themselves." Orange put a hand on Purple's shoulder. "I know it's a little alarming. Yellow, Red, and Cyan reacted pretty harshly too, but I trust them. They haven't hurt anyone since the other impostor. If anything they're a big softy."

"Okay, I trust you Orange… I suppose I should explain myse-"

"No no. You don't have to tell me anything. You clearly aren't going to hurt anyone, you've had plenty of time with me. Besides, just because you're not human doesn't mean you're an impostor." They looked away. "Also… I shouldn't have followed you. You wanted space and I didn't listen. I was just worried about you, I guess."

"No, Orange-"

Purple took off their helmet. Their face was fuzzy, covered in dark, fine-looking fur. What had passed for a headband was actually a pair of thin, rabbit-like ears poking through the helmet. Their whole head was very rabbit-like. 

"I want to tell you. I was so worried about getting thrown out that I've been hiding the entire time. I can't shapeshift like an impostor you see, so it's a lot harder for me to pass for human. I've just been combing my fur to look like hair and hoping that I never have to take the helmet off. I'm so glad that I can just be  _ me _ again!" They paused. "That's why I owe Green. He- he saw through me and threatened to- to tell everyone if I-"

"If what?"

Purple froze and looked at Orange with teary eyes. 

"If I told anyone that I saw him kill Yellow."

"What?!"

"We're in danger, Orange," They said, tears running down their cheeks as they put their helmet back on, "He's going to hurt someone. I'm so sorry, it's all my fault..."


	8. Rush

"We have to tell someone!"

"Who? Everyone should be asleep right now!"

"I know one person who's probably still awake," Orange said as they grabbed Purple's hand and began the walk to decontamination. 

"Where are we going?"

"O2. That's where Blue and White usually sleep. We can trust them. I'll explain when we get there."

The two tiptoed through the office, careful not to wake anyone that might be sleeping there. They peeked around the door and broke into a sprint to the o2 building. Sure enough, they were huddled together in the tree room. 

Blue was still awake, petting White's shoulder as she slept. He perked up when he noticed Orange and Purple. 

"Oh, hi Orange, Purple. You seem a little panicked, what's up?"

"Blue, uhm, we may have a small problem that we  _ might _ need your help with."

"What would be the problem?"

Orange looked at Purple reassuringly. 

"Green is an impostor," They blurted, "he's an impostor, and he threatened to hurt me if I told anyone  _ and oh stars I'm so dead." _

"Woah woah woah, hey, slow down, take a breath. Tell me the whole thing again."

~~~

Orange helped Purple explain to Blue what had happened, making sure they got it all right. After a couple minutes of explaining and lots of unnecessary apologizing from Purple, Blue took off his helmet and looked to Purple. 

"So, let me get this straight, you are an alien, Green found out and used it against you when you witnessed him killing Yellow back on the Kiln, and now he's planning to hurt someone here?"

"Yes, i- I don't know what to do, I'm not a fighter, I'm a prey animal in every sense of the word!" They started to hyperventilate. "Please… I don't want anyone to get hurt… please don't eject me."

"Hey kid, breathe. Take off your helmet, the air is clean here, it'll clear your head." He said, gesturing for the two to sit down, "we're not going to eject  _ you. _ It would be rather hypocritical if we did."

They sniffled, cozying up to Orange, who was hugging them in an attempt to comfort them. They were petting Purple's head gently, Blue couldn't help but find it slightly cute. 

"H-how so?"

"Well, if I got to stay, despite everything I've done, then you certainly should. You haven't hurt anyone." 

"Are you..?"

"Yes. I've also been keeping an eye on you and Green since you got here. I could smell another impostor, but since you were all crammed into that escape pod, I couldn't tell which one of you it was. White knows the Captain from way back when, so it couldn't have been him, it had to be Green or you."

"Wait, you knew there was another impostor?!" Orange jumped. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't want to scare everyone, besides, I'd reveal myself if I did." He looked at Purple, pushing his hair out of his eyes so that they could see his blacked out sclera. "Anyway, you're completely innocent. I'll deal with Green. Until then, if you're worried about him trying to hurt you, just stick with me. You too Orange, I can't imagine he'd want to keep either of you around if he found out."

"What do we do if we can't find you, or we get separated, who else can we trust?" Purple asked, their voice shaking. 

"White. I'll fill her in when she wakes up. You can trust her, she once stabbed an impostor in self defense. Oh, and the Captain. From what White told me, he  _ also _ stabbed an impostor. You don't have to tell him everything, just that Green might hurt you. He should be able to protect you in the meantime."

Purple sat and trembled slightly in Orange's arms. Blue wanted to protect this kid. They just wanted to work in space, but they had it taken from them. He felt very strongly about getting them the chance to live like themself again.

"How about this, I'll go get your sleeping bags, you two stay here with White."

Blue left o2 and made his way towards the office building. He ducked into admin and grabbed the sleeping bags. On his way out, he glared at Green, who was asleep in the meeting room. He returned to o2 moments later. Orange took the sleeping bags and unrolled them next to Blue and White's. 

"Get some sleep. Sleep helps."

Purple glanced at the open door. "Is there… is there any way you could close those still?"

"Of course," He said as he pulled out his tablet and opened the sabotage application, "I won't let anyone see you, don't worry. I'm a light sleeper, I'll know if someone opens them."

"Thank you…"

Blue watched as Purple buried themselves under the covers, their hand sticking out to hold onto Orange's. They were out like a light. 

"Thank you, Blue. I- I wasn't sure how to help them myself."

"It's no problem, Orange. I'll help in any way I can." He smiled. "You should sleep too, it's late."

"I'm not sure I can. It's a lot to process. I'm so- worried about Purple, about what Green might do…" They shuddered. "I'm scared, Blue."

"I know, but you're doing the right thing to help them. I won't let either of you get hurt. Now, rest."

"Alright, alright. Geez  _ dad _ ."

~~~

The following day was spent herding Purple and Orange to their tasks, keeping them away from Green. He had told White about the situation, she had taken it upon herself to keep track of Green, making sure he wasn’t alone with anyone. Once Blue had finished his tasks, he handed Purple and Orange off to White and they switched rolls. If Green knew about Purple spilling, he did a good job hiding it. It was made clear, however, that he knew Blue was following him around. He was trying to lose him. Green dipped into weapons, when Blue followed moments later, he jumped from behind the doorway and grabbed the straps of his suit.

“What is your problem?” He demanded, “Stop following me! It’s weird.”

“I’m not following you.”

“Yes, you are. You’re not doing any tasks.”

“Neither are you, I noticed.”

“That’s none of your business.” He hissed, letting him go and turning to leave.

“Oh, one thing-” He grabbed Green’s shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. “I hope you know that you’re not going to do anything without consequences. You’re not very good at hiding.”

“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he lied, his tone of voice guarded.

“Sure you don’t.”

Blue left, heading to security. He was stopped in the entry hall of electrical by a slightly worried looking White.

“White? What’s wrong, where’s Purple?”

“I was hoping you knew. I turned around and they were gone! I’m not sure if I just lost them or-”

“Was Orange with them?”

“Yes. They never let go of each other’s hands, I don’t think.”

“Okay, where were they last?”

“We were all in the office, I went in to do my download and they-”

Blue grabbed her hand and went off to check the admin table. He was surprised to see the office door shut. They opened it together and hurried inside. Yellow was cornered away in the library when they walked in. Three in lab, one in specimen, three in admin, one in comms, two in storage. Yellow gave them a questioning look, but they left before she could ask anything.

They ran to lab, but a quick look showed them that Black, Cyan, and the Captain were the only people inside. They turned and went to storage. There, they found Purple working on the door lock.

“White! Blue! There you are! Orange is just inside, the door shut between us while we were looking for you.”

“What happened?”

“The office door shut on us while we were following you. When we got it open, you were gone! Then I saw Green come around the corner, and we hid in here,” Purple explained as the storage door opened and Orange toppled out.

“White, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disappear!” 

“It’s alright, you’re safe and that’s all that matters. Does anyone still have any tasks?”

“I have a download in weapons.” Purple muttered.

“Okay, we’ll head there together.”

They never made it to weapons. Green had been busy.

“ _ Oh… _ ”

“No!”

“ _ I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry… _ ”

White reached up to hit a button on her helmet, opening a long distance communication line.

“Pink?”

“Yeah?” Pink’s voice crackled through the speakers in her helmet.

“You were on babysitting duty, right?”

“Yes, why?”

“You might want to keep Penny preoccupied for a while.”

“White, you’re scarin’ me. What’s going on?”

“Just- just distract the kid.” She cut the line.

“What’s happening out here? What are you looking at?” Red had peeked out of comms. “Is that? Oh. Oh no…”

“Where did he go?” Blue asked nobody in particular. He turned and entered the office building. Looking for the impostor that had done this. The vitals displayed all heart rates as green. 

Except for Brown’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter.   
> That’s all.   
> Definitely not sorry for aaaanything else.


	9. Hunt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, yes, hello, extra long chapter for you

The body report siren rang across the site. Everyone gathered in the meeting room, but Green was nowhere to be found. 

Blue was pacing back and forth. Orange was comforting Purple, ignoring their own tears until White pulled both of them into a protective hug. Red was silent, staring into the distance. Everyone else was confused. Purple broke down while they were explaining everything, White took over while Orange comforted them. Nobody spoke for a while. 

"Brown's really dead… ain't she?" Pink asked in a hollow voice, as if the reality of the situation had just set in. 

"You all saw the vitals on the way in."

"...and Green?"

"A  _ coward. _ He's hiding." Blue growled, feeling even more murderous than before Lime died. "He sabotaged the admin table, I can't find him. He's not showing up anywhere."

"Did you check the holes?" Cyan asked. 

"Of  _ course _ I checked the holes. They all  _ reek _ of him but he's moved every time. He's treating it like a game."

"He- he does that. Did it back on the Kiln, too… albeit he was chasing…"

"He was  _ toying _ with you?" Orange asked, mortified. 

"He knew he could get away with it. What was I going to do? Tell? I'd be dead before I even made it to the- to the button."

"What do we do now?" Yellow asked as she fidgeted with her inflatable flamingo. 

"Stay together. Nobody is allowed to leave this room without two partners."

"Your numbers are off there, Red," Black pointed out, "There's ten of us, three groups of three. Someone's going to be alone."

"Well make a group of four then. It's not like we're going to just let someone wander around alone!"

Nobody said a word for a while. Purple's repeated apologies faded into the background as Blue's vision tunneled. Where could Green be? He's an  _ impostor, _ he should know this. If he wasn't showing up on the table, maybe it wasn't sabotaged, he was just outside somewhere. But  _ where _ outside? Where is Green hiding? Is he camping a door, waiting for someone to walk through? Is he looking at the crowd through the window right now, just out of sight? Is he elsewhere, planning his next target? Who could be in danger next? Purple? Orange? White? Him? He hoped Green would target him, then he could  _ rip him to shreds _ for hurting  _ his family. _ After all, what good is he for if he can't protect the ones he has left? No, no he can't entertain that thought. He has to focus.  _ Where is Green? _

The lights cut out, plunging everyone but Blue into darkness. Everyone flinched. 

"Alright everyone, stay calm. I'll go fix the lights, you all stay here," White said

" _ Buddy system! _ "

"Fine. Blue, come with me. Pink- where's Penny?"

"She's with the Captain, in admin. He volunteered to watch her during the meeting."

"Okay, great, Pink you come too. Everyone else, stay here, make sure you don't lose anyone. I'll open a long distance comms line if anything happens."

White groped around in the darkness for Blue's arm as Pink shuffled around the table towards them. He stepped closer to her and grabbed her hand. The three of them left the room, letting Blue lead them to electrical. 

~~~

Purple shuddered as the door outside opened. They were terrified. Green could show up and what could they do? It's not like they could stop him. They flinched as Orange squeezed their shoulder, immediately apologizing for it.

"What did I miss?" The Captain asked as he peeked his head into the meeting room. 

"Not much," Red said, "Pink, White, and Blue went to fix lights. There's a buddy system in place. A homicidal alien is on the loose and he  _ killed our friend. _ The usual."

He nodded solemnly. "Can someone take Penny? I'd like to speak with Purple."

There it is. They tensed up, scared of what The Captain would say. Orange inched closer to them, a gesture they appreciated. 

"I'm not going to hurt them, kid. I just want to talk."

"I'll- I'll be alright, Orange." The alien's ears twitched. "Can they… can they come?"

"If you want them too, that's fine."

Purple and Orange edged around the table to the door, where The Captain led them into the admin room. Once there, he leaned against the table. Purple took their place across from him. They had dreaded this conversation since the day they joined MIRA. They knew they couldn't hide forever. They just didn't expect it to happen so soon. 

"Purple. I know you're probably tired of it by now, but can you tell me  _ exactly _ what happened back on the Kiln?"

"E-Exactly?"

"Yes. What happened between you and Green?"

They took a deep breath, bracing themselves to recount that horrible day. The second they started talking, it was like they were back there. 

"I-I was doing tasks with Pink and Yellow… They were helping me. Pink had to do shields, but the comms we're sabotaged on the way. Yellow said he'd deal with it and we went on. Pink told me that he would be fine so I went to check on Yellow and… and…"

Orange gave their hand a comforting squeeze. 

"...and Green was standing over his body. I was about to report it, but Green- he- he knew. He knew I wasn't-" They pulled off their helmet. "He knew I wasn't human. He told me that- he said if I told anyone, then he would expose me. He made me fix the comms, 'to throw us off the trail'. Then he took me to electrical…"

The sight of Yellow's body flashed across their eyes. They flinched. 

"He- he told Red that… if I told anyone about either of them… that the other would- would kill me. I-I didn't know what to do. They let me go after that and I just- I went to security and cried…"

They were shaking. 

"You-you know what happened after t-that. The meeting."

They held back tears as Orange pulled them close and hugged them. Their touch was much more welcomed than Green's had been. Captain Black's expression was unreadable through his visor. He was quiet for a moment before he removed his helmet and moved toward them. They instinctively flinched away. 

He grabbed Purple's shoulders and looked them in the eyes, Orange reluctantly letting them go. Concern and sadness were evident in his face. 

"Kid, I'm  _ so _ sorry. I- You shouldn't have  _ ever _ gone through anything like that. I'm sorry that I couldn't be there for you."

They broke down, crying their heart out. They had been terrified of what could have happened to them when they were discovered, they hadn't considered that  _ this _ was a possibility. Eventually, Purple calmed down enough to realize that the lights were back on. They felt very exposed and frantically pulled their helmet back on. 

The group rejoined the crew in the meeting room. 

"Any word from them?" Orange asked. 

"We're watching through the window, but we can't see them yet," Cyan said, "No calls so far."

They all gathered around the window, watching intently as three silhouettes appeared at the very edge of their vision. Then, there was a fourth. Green shot out of the storage building, making contact with one of their friends. The tallest silhouette, Blue, tore Green off of the other person, Pink probably. White dragged Pink away from the two fighting impostors. That's when the call came in. 

"We- we found Green. We're outside storage. You can come out, but keep your distance. Pink's injured. It's not bad, but-"

"-it's definitely gonna bruise. Also I think he broke my arm… maybe. I might be fine."

There was a scramble as everyone rushed to the door, Yellow staying behind to occupy the child. The scene they were met with was much more chaotic than first viewed through the window. 

~~~

Blue ripped the impostor off of Pink and threw him away from the group. Green got back on his feet and growled. 

"You fucking traitor! You should be  _ helping _ me!"

He tackled Green, leading the fight away from his friends. A short pain spiked through his hands, he drew them back, seeing tiny quills retracting into Green's skin. Blue fell to the ground as Green landed a kick to his gut. 

"What happened to your last partner? Did you betray  _ them _ too?" Green leered, his helmet splitting into a sharp toothed snarl. 

Blue took a risk and looked at his crewmates, who were watching from besides communication. He could see Purple shaking as Green noticed them. 

"Oh of course you're helping  _ them _ , they're too fucking weak to defend themselves anyway! I'm a little surprised that it took them so long to spill, I guess they're even more of a coward than I thought!"

Blue turned his arm into a thin tendril and swung it at Green, it wrapped around his ankle and pulled him to the ground. Green returned his attention to Blue, several scaly tentacles bursting from his fake oxygen tank. Blue rolled just as the dirt beside him was stabbed by the sharp bone-like tips. He opened a mouth on his chest and growled as he lashed out at Green, managing to get a sizable gash across his side. 

Green wasn't hiding his form anymore. 

Green's head was thinner than Blue's, razor-like teeth filled a too wide mouth, two scars cut into his cheek on the left side. What were previously wings straightened out into aquatic fins. The top pair of arms had long, flipper-like hands tipped with sharp claws. Instead of another pair of arms, fins lined the lower half of Green's torso, lining all the way down to the end of his tail, where it fanned out. 

Green was not equipped for land in his true form, Blue was. An advantage that Blue would hold onto. 

The impostor clawed at Blue, knocking his helmet off. Green pinned Blue to the ground and went to bite into his arm, only narrowly missing, cutting through his skin. Someone was yelling Blue's name, it sounded like White. He risked a look, which confirmed that White was the one who shouted. Blue tried to kick Green off of him, to no avail. He tried to shove him off with his extra arms, but at the moment, Green had a size advantage. 

"What's wrong, Blue? Afraid you'll scare your little friends? Don't worry, I'll save that one for last."

He opened his maw as wide as he could and pierced Green's arm with his tongue. The impostor reeled back, releasing Blue enough for him to scramble toward his friends and shift forms

"You might want to look away." He muttered to them before rushing back to Green. 

He spiked up, growing spines and sharpening his scales as he pushed Green into storage, grappling his arms as the other impostor grew thin spikes to throw him off. Blue spun around and slammed his tail into Green's side, knocking him off balance, causing him to fall onto the crates. 

"There's the effort I would expect of an impostor!"

Green bit at Blue's arms, clawing at his face and torso, ripping gashes through Blue's skin. Blue returned the attacks. That is, until Green threw Blue back out into the cold, knocking the wind out of his lungs. Green held him down, digging his claws into Blue's shoulders. 

"Wow, how  _ worthless _ can you get?! You couldn't even protect your little 'friends'," Green hissed, "You don't know the  _ half _ of what I'll do to them. Brown was just a warm up, the real fun begins once  _ you're _ out of the way."

Blue looked desperately to the crew, silently begging them to get to safety. There were too many worried faces, too many people depending on him, too many people at risk. 

He yelled in pain as Green stabbed him with one of his bone-tipped tentacles. 

"You know... Maybe I'll keep you alive, just long enough for you to see me tear your friends apart. How's that sound?"

A tentacle shot towards the crew, a terrified shout rang out as Green dragged them closer. Purple, poor little Purple, squirmed in an attempt to get away. 

"Let's start with the rodent."

Blue swiped his tail at Green's legs, causing him to drop Purple, who scrambled back to the group. He pushed him away and got back on his feet. Blue charged at the impostor, shoving him back into storage. Green's head hit the corner of a crate. He lashed out, shooting his tongue at Blue, who took it to the arm. Blue grabbed Green by the side of his head and his arms. He opened his stomach mouth, impaling him. Green shook in a mix of rage and fear. Blue leaned in and growled in his ear. 

"I told you there would be  _ consequences. _ "

He tore into Green, ripping outward from the wound left by his tongue. Green tried to fight, but with two extra arms and nearly an extra foot of height, Blue had the advantage this time. Despite Green's efforts, Blue didn't let go until Green stopped moving. 

Blue stood in storage, swaying in the silence. He shrunk down to as human of a form he could muster, he would be taller than normal. He probably didn't have the right textures, but he didn't want his friends to see him as a wounded animal. 

The first person to come to the doorway of storage was White, who was shortly followed by the rest. 

"Blue?"

He turned to look at her. 

_ "He's gone..." _

Blue fell to the floor, to the horror of his friends. 

~~~

"Oh no...  _ No no no no no! _ Cyan! Where's Cyan?"

"I'm here! I'm right here, White. Oh  _ fuck _ that's a lot of blood... Someone help me get him to medbay, I can't lift him by myself!"

Pink, Cyan, Red, and Black all lifted Blue's unconscious body, shambling out of storage and towards medbay. White followed close behind, trembling with each step, flinching at every drop of blood that hit the snow. 

The second Blue had been laid on a bed, Cyan got to work. He quickly went to disinfecting the wounds, gesturing wildly for someone to put pressure on the wounds that were still bleeding. Once he had thoroughly disinfected, he hesitantly got to work on the stitching, worrying about how the impostor's body would react to all of this foreign care. Blue's labored breathing slowed as Cyan hooked up an IV to the first vein he could find, Black scrambled through coolers of blood bags, looking for one of the ones Blue had given earlier for research purposes. Medbay was in chaos. White couldn't watch, but she didn't want to leave. Pink and Orange had to drag her out to the hallway by her arms. 

White collapsed to the floor, hollowly staring out the door at the end of the hall. Silent tears ran down her face, her eyes puffy and half closed. Orange sat next to her, holding an arm across her back, rubbing in small circular motions. They looked at her, concerned as she began to shake with held back sobs. 

"I'm here, White. You can let it out."

She did, folding in as Orange held her. 

"Can you talk?"

She tried to force out words. She couldn't choke out anything more than a fragile 'no'. 

"That's alright. I'm here, just focus on me."

White held onto them like they were the only thing keeping her tethered to the world. Time seemed to stretch, minutes turned into hours. How long had she been crying? Twenty minutes? Three hours? The light filtering through the door gave no clear indication as to what time it was, but she couldn't even remember what time everything went down. 

A knock on the wall made her perk up, looking to Red, who was standing in the doorway. 

"Cyan says he's stable, but he's not sure how long it'll be before he wakes up. You can visit him if you want, but it's not very pretty."

White stood, bringing Orange with her. The two sped into medbay, making a B-line for the bed that Blue was currently propped up in. He was too big for it. 

"He lost a lot of blood," Cyan started, "We're lucky we took these samples, otherwise we'd have to run the risk of using human blood, since we don't know how his body would react, I'm glad we had some back-ups."

"Will he make it?" Orange asked as White's grip on their arm tightened. 

"Possibly. We'll have to monitor his vitals closely, and have someone in medbay with him at all times. He should pull through. I fixed any fatal damage so he shouldn't bleed out."

White sniffed, rubbing her eyes. "Can I... Can I stay with him?"

Cyan looked at her sadly, but grabbed a chair and pulled it up to the side of the bed. She thanked him and sat down, her hand fidgeting in her lap. Cyan left her with him, leading Orange out of the room. She crossed her arms on the bed, scooting closer to Blue. She didn't remember when she laid her head down and drifted to sleep. 

~~~

The Captain was scanning when White woke up. 

"What time is it?" She asked. 

"Around 2 am, Polus time."

"Getting an early start on tasks?"

He grunted in response, "Red wanted me to tell you that you're excused from tasks as well."

His scan finished and he leaned against the wall. 

"I know you want to say something, sir. We might as well get this conversation out of the way while he can't-" She hesitated, "while he's asleep."

"He's an impostor."

"Clearly."

"He saved us?"

"Multiple times, actually. He's the reason we made it out of the Skeld  _ alive." _

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because, exactly how do you think that would go? He barely handled the last time well, I'm not sure another argument over his life would be very good for his mental health."

"What I don't get is why you kept him around in the first place."

"He saved my life, sir. I would not be here if he wasn't good. I would have been dead in electrical months ago if not for him! You expect me to turn on him?"

"No, White. I  _ just _ wanted to hear the full story. I asked Orange and Pink about it, but they told me that I should go to you."

He sat down on the next bed over, taking his helmet off and laying it in his lap. 

"I trust your judgement. Besides, I'm no fool. Your crew wouldn't have reacted like that if Blue here wasn't a trusted person. You should have seen everyone. I have never seen a meeting room so sad looking."

"Ah jeez, how's Penny? Is she alright? Please tell me she's-"

He rested a hand on her shoulder. "Pink's been taking care of her. We're going to be holding a 'funeral' for Brown, once we can find a suitable spot for a pseudo grave."

"That's good. It's what she would have liked."

The Captain patted White's shoulder and stood up, making to leave medbay. He looked back. 

"Don't forget to take care of yourself, White."

Then, she was alone with Blue. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoooooooo I really hope that fight scene was okay, I've never written action before so I was kinda winging it


End file.
